News in Short

• Indian-American Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi has been appointed as co-chair of the crucial Immigration Task Force of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus.
• The aim of the immigration task force is to help in issues like support legislation to protect Dreamers and Temporary Protect Status (TPS) recipients, support comprehensive immigration reform, restore due process for immigrants, promote access to Citizenship and integration of AAPI immigrants among other things.
• Mr. Krishnamoorthi represents Illinois’s 8th congressional district in the House of Representatives. The House of Representatives is the Lower House of the U.S. Congress, with the Senate being the Upper House.

• Bigg Boss 10 contestant Swami Om passed away at his residence in Ghaziabad.
• The self-proclaimed godman had contracted coronavirus a few months back. Post this, his health kept deteriorating.
• Swami Om made headlines with his antics on Bigg Boss 10. He had indulged in passing nasty remarks and stealing other contestants’ toiletries.
• Post the incident, host Salman Khan ousted Swami Om from the show. This led to him speaking against Khan and Bigg Boss on numerous occasions. He had even threatened to damage the set along with his followers.

• The number of rhinoceroses killed by poachers in South Africa’s national parks dropped by a third last year, according to official figures.
• The fall in deaths was aided by the country’s coronavirus lockdown which restricted the movement of poachers, according to South Africa’s environmental ministry.
• Most of the rhinos were killed in the Kruger National Park, a popular tourist location bordering Mozambique. It is also South Africa’s largest national park and was where 245 of the horned mammals were poached last year.

• Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has announced that he would be stepping down from his role as chief executive officer(CEO) of the company later this year. Bezos will be handing over the role of the CEO to Andy Jassy, head of Amazon Web Services.
• Bezos had started the world's most valuable online retail company in 1994 and is currently the world's richest man, his other businesses include the private space firm Blue Origin and the Washington Post.
• The Seatle-based company's market value is currently pegged at a whopping $1.69 trillion with Bezos personal fortune worth an estimated $196 billion.

• Ashok Dinda, one of the most consistent quick bowlers in Indian domestic cricket for the past one-and-a-half decade, retired from the game.
• Dinda has 420 first-class wickets in his bag and has also played 13 ODIs and nine T20s for India, taking 12 and 17 wickets respectively.
• He has also played in the Indian Premier League, turning out for teams like Kolkata Knight Riders and Pune Warriors.
• Dinda had announced last year that he will not play for Bengal, who had ended runners-up in the 2019-2020 season. It had been reported that he would be turning out for Goa for the following Ranji season.